Last Days
by shana852963
Summary: The Recess gang is starting their senior year, which of course, is both the best and worst year of high school. They have to deal with relationships, colleges and the other everyday strains of being a teen. TJxSpinelli now, eventual GretchenxVince.
1. Chapter 1

**Background: The recess gang is entering their senior year of high school. They're still close as every. T.J and Spinelli have been dating since their freshmen year of high school. **

…**..**

"Man, I can't believe it…" seventeen-year old T.J. Detwiller said, leaning back against the tree trunk behind him. "We're finally going to be seniors tomorrow. We'll be the kings of the school!"

"And queens, thank you," Spinelli reminded him.

"Fine, and queens," T.J. said, putting his arm around her.

"Yeah, no one else calling the shots around there," Gus said happily, playing with a few blades of glass absentmindedly.

"And seniors always get the staring roles in all the school plays!" Mikey added excitedly.

"And coach is always favoring the seniors on the team," Vince pointed out, straigtening his old basketball jersey.

"And we'll have to start applying to college soon," Gretchen said.

The other five stared at her.

"Wow, Gretch, way to kill the mood," Vince said.

"Yeah, I thought we agreed no 'C' word until school at least _started_," T.J. said. "You're a day early!"

"Sorry, but aren't you guys just a little excited?" Gretchen asked. "I mean, college is a whole new chapter in our lives! We can experience all sorts of things that we've never been exposed to before!"

"Yeah, and for those of us who don't have our entire lives planned out like you, it's terrifying," Spinelli said.

"I don't have my whole life planned out," Gretchen defended.

"Let's see," T.J. said, rolling his eyes. "Your top schools are Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, MIT, Cal Tech, and Duke."

"You want to double major in physics and biology," Gus continued.

"And get minors in sociology and psychology," Spinelli added. "So just in case your planes on winning the noble prize in some sciencey category don't work out, you can know enough about people and their problems to get the peace award."

"You want to have a secure internship by this time next month, preferably in a lab with one of your top-five current scientist idols," Vince said.

"And you want to have your first job as a researcher working on curing diseases by using nearly every branch of science by the time you are twenty-two," Mikey finished.

"Well fine, when you say it like that," Gretchen mumbled.

"You know guys, maybe Gretch is right," Vince said. "College _is _always supposed to be more fun than high school. We'll have more intense football games, more freedom, parties…"

"A bigger stage to perform on!" Mikey said.

"Yeah, that is true," Spinelli nodded.

"At least you guys will get all of that," Gus muttered miserably.

"You still haven't talked to your dad about not wanting to go into the army?" T.J. asked softly.

"How am I supposed to?" Gus asked. "Every time I even bring up the subject, he just starts going on about how proud he is that his son will be carrying on his name on the front line like him."

"But Gus, you can't go if you won't be happy there," Mikey said.

"Yeah, Gus, it's your decision, not his, no matter how hard it is for him to accept," Gretchen nodded.

"Thanks guys," Gus sighed. "I didn't mean to bring you all down…let's focus on being seniors again; it's going to be the best!"

"Yeah it will," Vince agreed, obviously sensing that Gus wanted to drop the subject.

"After twelve torture-filled years, it will all finally be coming to an end," Spinelli grinned.

"It's what we've been dreaming of for years," T.J. said. "But hey, we still have one more day of summer left!"

"It's almost over though," Gus pointed out, looking up at the darkening sky.

"So? We can still make it count, can't we?" T.J. asked, jumping to his feet. "What do you say we do this old school style?"

"You didn't just say that," Spinelli said, shaking her head.

"What did you have in mind?" Mikey asked.

"We head back to my place and have ourselves a camp out," T.J. said. "Hotdogs, s'mores, the whole nine yards."

"I could go for that," Vince said.

"Yes, a memory-filled night under summer's stars," Mikey said dramatically.

"Count me in," Gretchen nodded.

"And me!" Gus said.

"Yeah, that doesn't sound _too _bad," Spinelli smiled at her boyfriend.

"Good, then it's settled," T.J. said. "Now let's go have the best last-night of summer of our lives!"


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you guys doing sitting out here? It looks like it's going to pour any second," Gretchen asked, walking up to T.J. and Vince, who were standing outside the school as the rest of students began to stream inside.

"We're not going in until the absolute last second we have to," T.J. said firmly.

"Yeah, it may be the first day of school, but according to my clock, we still have eight minutes of freedom left," Vince said.

"So you'd rather get rained on?"

"If that's what it takes," T.J. nodded.

"Why are we all huddled out here? Do you people not see the gigantic thunder clouds above us?" Spinelli said, joining the three.

"We're going through the same thing we do wit them every first day of school," Gretchen explained.

"Oh yeah, well, that makes sense," Spinelli shrugged. "No point in beginning this torture sooner than we have to."

"That's my girl!" T.J. grinned as him and Spinelli high-fived.

"Do you guys know where Mikey and Gus are?" Gretchen asked, laughing.

"They ditched us and went inside a whomping _twenty _minutes before the bell rings!" Vince exclaimed.

"Mikey went to go say hi to his theatre teacher," T.J. explained. "And Gus needed to go pick up some transcripts so he can give his dad to mail to his old army buddy to hopefully get Gus into boot camp early."

"Poor kid," Spinelli sighed. "Why's his dad gotta push him into the army? He doesn't want to go!"

"Parental pressures can do a lot to a kid," Gretchen said. "But I still say that eventually he needs to talk to his dad and tell him that he wants to college instead."

"His dad's a scary guy," Vince pointed out. "Sure, he's nice, but still, scary."

"Look, we'll talk to Gus," T.J. said. "We can go with him to talk to his dad if he wants us to."

"Yeah, that might make him feel more comfortable," Gretchen nodded.

Just then, a loud clasp of thunder boomed.

"Nature's really testing us," Vince said as a few drops of rain began to fall.

"Stay strong, Vince," T.J. said.

"This is insane, you know that, right?" Gretchen said.

"Yet you're still here, aren't you?" Vince grinned.

…

"Man, summer ended too early," Spinelli mumbled as she collapsed into a seat at the gang's usual cafeteria table.

"You've only been through four periods so far, was it really that bad?" Gretchen, who was the only one at the table so far, asked.

"Yup," Spinelli said. "I walked into my first class, trigonometry, and guess who's there?"

"Who?" Gretchen asked.

"The Ashley's!" Spinellie exclaimed. "All four of them!""

"All of them?" Gretchen frowned. "That's rough."

The Ashley's, to nobody's surprise, had become the queen bees of the high school. Ashley A, who was still the leader of the group, was not only student body president and head cheerleader, but was drop-dead gorgeous. Ashley B and Ashley T both dominated the school's dance team, and Ashley Q, still the most athletic of the four, was the captain of the school's soccer team.

"And of course the stupid teacher made us sit alphabetical by last names," Spinelli continued to fume. "So I'm stuck right between Ashley Q and Ashley T. And then the teacher had to go and say how 'funny' it was that there were five Ashley's in one class? Can you believe that? She grouped me in with them!"

"Okay, well, it's just one class," Gretchen reasoned. "So just-"

"I thought it was one class too," Spinelli said. "Until I went into second period…and third. And fourth. They've all been in my classes all day so far!"

"All four of them?" Gretchen asked. "Together? Wow, the odds of that happening are practically inexistent!"

"They probably had their daddies call the school and make sure they got all their classes together this year," Spinelli muttered. "And just as a bonus, they made sure they got their classes with me so they could torture me! Senior year is going to suck now that I have to spend most of my day with those powder puffs!"

"Wow, someone's angry," T.J. commented, sitting down next to Spinelli and giving her a quick kiss. Vince sat down next to Gretchen, and Mikey sat at the end of the table.

"Ashley overload," Spinelli grumbled.

"They're in all her classes," Gretchen explained.

"Gross," Vince cringed.

"Yeah, it is," Spinelli said. "So can we not talk about it, okay? How have the rest of you guys' first days been? As sucky as mine?"

"Actually, senior year's been great to me so far," Vince said. "Since I'm captain of the basketball team this year, I get two periods of gym class to practice. And the rest of my classes seem really easy. Well, except for pre calculus and anatomy, but hey, can't let that bring me down."

"Yes, and Gretchen and I have Advanced Literature together," Mikey said. "So we can take the fascinating journey of diving into Medieval writings and classical poetry together!"

"Great, so everybody's going to have the best year but me," Spinelli snapped.

"Hey, your year's not going to be that bad," T.J. said, putting his arm around her. "So you're going to have the Ashley's in your classes, so what? We all know you can handle them. Besides, you have a ton of other stuff going for you too."

"He's right," Gretchen nodded. "Aren't you going to be a co-captain of the girls' lacrosse team this year?"

"Yeah," Spinelli said slowly.

"And you're bound to be a featured artist at the school's art show this year," Mikey added.

"And you lucked out and got the parking spot right next to the school," Vince said. "You barely have to walk."

"I guess that's true," Spinelli said.

"Plus," T.J. grinned. "You happen to have one _fantastic_ looking boyfriend."

"Eh, that one's up for debate," Spinelli smiled, earning laughs from the other three.

"Hey, guys," Gus said, sighing as he came over to the table, taking a seat next to Vince.

"Hey, Gus, where have you been all day?" T.J. asked. "I thought you were supposed to be in my French class."

"I am," Gus said. "I just spent the first half of the day talking with my ROTC teacher, though."

"About what?" Vince asked.

"About how I can get into the army even earlier," Gus said miserably. "Since I turn eighteen in just a few months, he told me that I have the option of getting a GED and going into the military right after the New Year."

"What?" Mikey exclaimed. "They can't do that to you!"

"Yeah, that's crazy!" Spinelli agreed.

"Guys, I don't really have a choice in this," Gus said.

"What do you mean? Of course you do!" Gretchen said. "It's your life!"

"Not in my dad's eyes," Gus said. "Trust me. He's been working on this plan since the day he found out my mom was pregnant with a son. He's not about to let his dream go up in smoke just because I'm not a fan of it."

"Gus, you need to talk to him," T.J. said. "We'll come with you if you want, but you need to do it."

"I know," Gus moaned. "But every time I even approach my dad, I get so nervous."

"You can start practicing with us," Mikey suggested. "When I'm preparing for a play, I always go over what I need to say before rehearsals and that way, it doesn't seem so hard."

"Yeah, maybe we can do that," Gus nodded. "Once I figure out what I'm going to say, that is."

"We'll do whatever we can," Vince promised.

"Thanks," Gus said, giving them all a weak smile. "You guys are the best."


	3. Chapter 3

"What the heck does gravity even have to do with anything anyway," Spinelli snapped, slamming her Physics textbook shut.

"Better not let Gretch hear you say that," T.J. grinned, closing his own textbook and tossing onto his floor among the rest of his already discarded schoolbooks.

"I hate physics," Spinelli mumbled, leaning back in T.J.'s desk chair, where she had been attempting to do homework. "It's pointless! Plus how am I supposed to learn anything when I've got the Ashley's sitting all around me giggling and talking about the latest shoes or haircuts or whatever those freaks go on about."

"Hey, Vince and I took Physics last year," T.J. told her. "I can help you out if you want."

"If you want to give it a try," Spinelli said, tossing her boyfriend her book.

T.J. opened it up and stared at the page for no less than five seconds before closing the book again. "Who am I kidding? I only passed the class because Gretchen helped me cram the night before all the tests. You need her."

"I know," Spinelli sighed. "But she's busy working on her Harvard application this weekend. I don't want to bug her…Can you believe she's already doing applications?"

"My parents are actually starting to get on my case about them," T.J. said. "My mom wants me to apply to University of Arkansas by the end of the month."

"You'll get in," Spinelli said. "Me on the other hand…"

"Hey," T.J. said, patting the spot next to him on his bed for Spinelli to join him. "You can get into there too!"

"My grades aren't as good as yours," Spinelli said, settling down next to him.

"But you've still got all your extra-curricular," he reminded her.

"But what if I still don't get in?" Spinelli asked, and T.J. could see that she was genuinely worried. "What if I don't get in anywhere?"

T.J. put his arm around her and gave her a long kiss. "Spin," he whispered when they pulled apart. "You're so much better than you give yourself credit for."

"You're my boyfriend, Teje," Spinelli said. "It's in your contract to say things like that."  
"True," T.J. smiled. "But I don't have to mean them unless they're true. And this _is _true, Spin. Any college would be lucky to have you."  
Spinelli didn't reply.

"How about this?" T.J. asked. "Next week we work on filling out our University of Arkansas applications together?"

Spinelli considered that. "Okay," she nodded. "I think I'd actually like that…"

"And we'll work on applications for Arkansas State," T.J. continued. "And East Arkansas…We'll get in somewhere, together, I promise. And then the two of us will go and spend four of our best years at one of those schools. It will all work out, Spinelli."

"I'm glad one of us is optimistic," Spinelli grinned.

"You'll see, everything's gonna fall into place for us," T.J. told her.

….

"Gretch, this stuff is impossible," Vince said, walking into the Grundler house with Mikey as Gretchen opened the door for them.

"He's not exaggerating," Mikey said.

"Come on, it's just math," Gretchen said.

"Just math," Vince scoffed, flinging himself onto the couch in the living room. "Gretch, when have I ever been good at math?"

"Let me have a look at it," Gretchen sighed as the boys handed her their books.

"This is just factoring here," Gretchen explained. "And here-"

Suddenly, Mikey's stomach gave a loud grumble.

Gretchen smiled at him. "My parents just went to the store; we have brand new box of Winger Dingers in the kitchen."

"Ah, sweet Winger Dingers, you never disappoint!" Mikey said, jumping up and heading into the kitchen.

"I'll show you how to do this first problem," Gretchen said to Vince. "And then you can try these next few ones and see how you do on your own."

"You're a lifesaver, Gretch," Vince said. "Seriously."

"You're just lucky I love math," Gretchen laughed. She grabbed a sheet of paper from the coffee table and began drawing out the calculations for Vince. "So," she said as she scribbled down a bunch of numbers and variables. "Any plans for tonight?"

"Nah," Vince said. "A bunch of guys from the basketball team are going out to some restaurant with their girlfriends from the cheerleading team, and I didn't want to be that one single guy, so I told them I couldn't make it."

"Vince, you _do_ realize that any of those girls from the cheerleading team would gladly go with you to that dinner, right?" Gretchen asked. "You're captain this year, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," Vince shrugged. "But I'm not really into any of those girls."

Gretchen nodded and went back to the problem. They went through this every year with Vince, when the gang would realize that Vince was the only member of any one of his many sports teams without a girlfriend. And for some reason, this never seemed to bother Vince.

It wasn't as though he didn't have offers, though. As star athlete of the school, girls obviously threw themselves at him. He just never seemed that interested in any of them. Ironically, he was the most attractive guy in the gang, yet he had had the fewest relationships out of them.

"Anyway," Vince said as he looked on at Gretchen's work. "Spinelli and T.J. have a date tonight, Mikey's going to some poetry reading with his parents and Gus is with his dad touring that boot camp upstate. Looks like it's just the two of us tonight, Grundler. That is, unless you're going to leave me hanging too."

"Hmm, I think I can leave my Latin homework go until tomorrow," Gretchen smiled. "Wanna hang out here?"

"Sure, you have the best T.V. channels," Vince nodded. "We can order pizza and wings."

"Okay, sounds good," Gretchen said. She handed Vince the paper with the homework problem on it. "So, do you understand what I did here?"

"Not even a little," Vince said instantly.

"Yeah, because you probably weren't paying attention, were you?" Gretchen said knowingly.

"Hey, now I'm too busy thinking about pizza!" Vince defended.


	4. Chapter 4

"Only class of the day that's tolerable with those four powder puffs is gym," Spinelli said as she walked over to Vince in the school's gym during the two's shared P.E. class. "At least I can hit them with dodge balls here and make it look like an accident."

"Nice," Vince grinned, picking up a basketball that was at his feet. "You wanna play a round of horse?"

"Horse?" Spinelli repeated. "Dude, no one's played that game since elementary school."

"So is that a no?" Vince asked.

"I go first," Spinelli said, grabbing the ball from him.

"Hey, guys," Gus said, heading over to the two.

"Gus! How was your weekend looking at boot camps with your dad?" Vince asked.

"Miserable," Gus said. "The more of the camp I saw, the less I wanted anything to do with it. They're just not for me."

"They were that bad?" Spinelli asked sympathetically.

"The best thing about the camp was that there's a really nice lake there," Gus said. "But the only time anyone is allowed in it is during the 5 AM morning swim. The place looks like it can suck away every shred of happiness you have!"

"Man," Vince sighed. "You have to talk to your-"

"I know," Gus mumbled. "And I am going to talk to my dad…tonight, I think."

"Really?" Spinelli asked. "Gus, that's awesome!"

"Might not be so awesome once I actually do it," Gus said. "But I figure…I don't really have a choice. College applications are going to start coming out, and I need to apply to them soon if I want a chance of getting in anywhere."

"Where _do _you want to go?" Vince asked. "I don't think you've ever mentioned anything to any of us."

Gus shrugged. "I dunno…I think it would be sort of cool to go to a place with a good architecture program."

"Architecture?" Spinelli frowned, shooting the basketball. "I didn't know you were interested in that."

"He builds a bunch of those model things," Vince pointed out.

"It's a really cool major," Gus said. "I've looked into it a lot…But like I said, my dad won't be too thrilled about it."

"Hey, he'll come around once he sees what a great architecurte you'll be," Spinelli said. "Don't worry about it! So stop thinking about it and come play some horse with us!"

Gus grinned. "We haven't played that since elementary school."

"Yeah, maybe now I'll have some actual competition," Vince said.

Spinelli tossed Gus the ball, and Gus took a shot, but the basketball soared over the basket, hitting the large clock on the gym wall.

"Or not," Vince said, shaking his head.

….

"Are you two actually _studying _in study hall?" T.J. frowned, sitting down at the table where Gretchen and Mikey were working.

"We have a literature project due next week," Gretchen explained.

"We're working on character analysises for one of Shakespeare's greatest works; "Macbeth"_," _Mikey said.

"Is that the one about the monkeys?" T.J. asked.

"I don't think any of Shakespeare's plays have monkeys, Teje," Gretchen frowned.

"Hmm, must be thinking of something else then," T.J. shrugged. "Anyway, Gretch. I need your help. Do you think you can help me and Spinelli write some of our application essays?"

"Um, sure," Gretchen nodded. "But you do know that different schools require different types of essays, so keep that in mind."

"Oh, we don't have to worry about that," T.J. said. "We're applying to all the same schools."

"Really?" Gretchen asked. "I didn't know that."

"Why wouldn't we go to the same school?" T.J. pointed out. "Anyway, I'm thinking you help us both out with the general idea of the essay and then we can take it from there."

"Okay," Gretchen nodded. "We could do them this weekend if you want."

"Sorry, can't," T.J. replied immediately. "You remember what this weekend is, don't you?"

"Oh! It's your three-year anniversary with Spinellie!" Mikey replied.

"That's right," T.J. grinned. "And I'm gonna make it the best anniversary to date."

"What do you have planned?" Gretchen asked.

"Well, to start off the night, I'm going to take her to the Universe of Wrestling exhibition tour she's been wanting to see," T.J. said, leaning back in his chair. "I spent four hours in line in the freezing cold last February for the tickets. And then we'll go to our favorite miniature golf course, where I have the entire place booked for just the two of us. And then we'll finish things up with a nice romantic dinner at perhaps the most expensive restaurant in all of Arkansas, Le Amore de…something."

"Wow, impressive," Gretchen said.

"I think it's beautiful that you're manifesting your love for Spinelli in such an intricate way," Mikey said.

"Thanks big guy," T.J. said. "And she's going to be so surprised. For weeks she's been telling me she doesn't want me to do anything huge for our anniversary, but I'm very familiar with that fancy double talk girls have. If I didn't do anything big, I would've been a dead man!"

"Yeah, probably," Gretchen laughed.

"Anyway, just don't mention anything about this to her, okay?" T.J. said, more to Gretchen than to Mikey. "I want her to be totally swept away."

"We won't," Mikey promised.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, is your practice over?" T.J. asked as he walked into the school locker room with Gus and Mikey. "The girls are waiting out in the parking lot so we can go catch that movie."

"Yup," Vince nodded, slamming his gym locker shut. "Coach had to go get some growth on his shoulder looked at so he let us out ten minutes early."

"Oh yeah, I saw that during gym today," Gus cringed.

"Pretty disgusting, isn't it?" Vince nodded. "Anyway, just let me get my shoes on and I'll be ready."

"Hey, LaSalle," one of the members of Vince's basketball team said, walking over to the group. "That hot cheerleader, Cassidy, is looking for you. Word is she's looking for a date for some party this weekend."

"Whoa, Cassidy!" T.J exclaimed. "Vince, she's head cheerleader!"

"Yeah, I know," Vince shrugged, picking up his gym bag.

"Wow, I can't believe I'll get to say I know the guy who's going with Cassidy Armellie to a party," Gus said enviously.

"Who says I'm taking her?" Vince asked.

"What?" Vince's teammate exclaimed. "You mean you're not going to?"

"Cassidy's a nice girl…sort of," Vince explained. "But I don't think I want to go out with her or anything."

"You're crazy, man," his teammate said, shaking his head. "Well, if you're not gonna make a move, mind if I swoop in?"

"But my guest," Vince shrugged.

"Thanks dude, I owe you," the basketball player grinned as he turned to run out of the locker room.

"Ah, to see love blossom," Mikey said.

"Um, Vince, buddy?" T.J. said. "Did you seriously just pass up on a date with Cassidy Armellie?"

"One of the most chased after girls in school?" Gus added.

"She _is _very pretty," Mikey nodded.

"I'm just not into her like that, what's the big deal?" Vince frowned.

"But Vince," T.J. said. "She's _Cassidy Armellie_!"

"I know who she is, Teje," Vince said, rolling his eyes.

"This is more insane than the time when you turned down Leslie Duncan last year," T.J. said, shaking his head. "I can understand why you turn down the Ashley's every time they make a move on you, but this is getting ridiculous!"

"Why are you making such a huge thing out of this?" Vince frowned. "So I don't want to go out with some peppy cheerleader who can probably only have a conversation about pom-poms and lip gloss. So what?"

"Well, we don't want to keep Gretchen and Spinelli waiting," Mikey said quickly, hoping to calm his two best friends down. "They're probably starting to wonder where we are."

"Yeah, let's get going," Vince nodded.

"Look, Vince," T.J. sighed. "I didn't mean to make such a big deal out of it. I'm sorry. If you don't want to go out with Cassidy Armellie, then hey, who am I to question it?"

"Thanks, Teje," Vince said, picking up his gym bag as the guys began to head out of the locker room.

…..

"I'm telling you, Vince must have gotten hit in the head with a basketball," T.J. said as he paced back and forth in his bedroom. "Hard!"

"T.J., you're over reacting," Gretchen said, rolling her eyes.

"I _never _over react!" T.J. said.

Spinelli scoffed. "Okay."

"But even you two have to admit that Vince is being ridiculous!" T.J. said.

"Why? Because he doesn't want to go out with Cassidy?" Gretchen asked. "I don't blame him. I hear she's a total snob. Nearly as bad as the Ashley's."

"Yeah, Vince could do better than some powder puff like her," Spinelli agreed. "He's just not interested in those types of girls."

"_Every _guy is interested in Cassidy Armellie!" T.J. exclaimed.

Spinelli rose an eyebrow. "Even you?"

"I-um, er, you-you didn't let me finish," T.J. said quickly. "Every guy who isn't already in a committed relationship is interested in Cassidy Armellie. Obviously a guy like me, who already has the prettiest, most beautiful girl on the planet, would have no interest in someone like her."

"Smooth save," Spinelli said approvingly.

"Anyway," T.J. said, sighing heavily. "I've been going over this entire situation in my head all last night, and I finally came to the only possible conclusion."

"This is going to be good," Gretchen said to Spinelli.

"Oh yeah," Spinelli nodded.

"There's only one reason why Vince, the guy at school who could literally have any girl he wants, would keep turning down every hot girl who shows any interest in him," T.J. said. He took a deep breath. "Vince is gay."

Spinelli and Gretchen looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"You _cannot _be serious right now!" Gretchen exclaimed.

"I think you've finally lost it," Spinelli said, gasping for breath.

"You guys, this isn't a joke!" T.J. said, crossing his arms.

"T.J., come on, Vince isn't gay," Gretchen said as her and Spinelli finally calmed down.

"She's right," Gretchen said. "I mean, believe us, we'd still love Vince even if he was…but he's not."

"Well then what other reason is there for him being so against going out with every girl that tries to get with him?" T.J. pointed out.

"Because he doesn't like _those _girls," Gretchen said.

"You know what, fine," T.J. said firmly. "If you don't want to believe me, that's fine. But I'm going over to Vince's now to let him know he has at least _one _supportive friend. Man…I always thought I'd be having this conversation with Mikey, not Vince."

"Well…" Spinelli said as her boyfriend stormed out of the room. "I'd say things are going to be getting very awkward over at Vince's place."

"Oh yeah," Gretchen nodded.


	6. Chapter 6

"So how about this?" Gus said, sitting down at his desk in his room. "We do a test run of this. You be my dad, and I'll be me."

"Okay," Mikey agreed. "I've never acted out any character with a military background before…this will be interesting."

"Just hurry up, okay?" Gus said. "My dad will be home from work in a little bit and I want to get this over with."

"Alright, alright," Mikey said. He cleared his throat. "Gus, son. I've made some appointments for you to talk to some of my old army buddies. It will really help your future."

"Um, dad," Gus said. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that…about this whole army thing."

"What about it?"

"Well," Gus started. "I-I just don't think I'm cut out for the army. It's not what I want to do with my life. I don't want to spend my time after high school in boot camps and combat. I want to go to college and study architecture."

"Well that's great!" Mikey said. "I'm proud that you're going to chase after your dreams son!"

"Mikey!" Gus exclaimed. "You're supposed to be acting out my dad! Where's all the screaming and yelling and telling me the army is where my blood is?"

"I'm sorry!" Mikey said. "I just can't act like that!"

"Yeah, well, I'm sure my dad won't have any trouble with it," Gus sighed.

"Hey, maybe he'll surprise you," Mikey said.

"And maybe I'll sprout wings and get superpowers," Gus said dully. He looked at his watch. "Thanks for your help, Mikey. But maybe you should go. You don't want to be around when my dad goes off on me."

"You can come by my place if you need to," Mikey told him. "Remember; me and the gang are here for you, no matter what your dad says."

"I know," Gus said, showing a small smile. "I'll see you around."

Once Mikey left, Gus laid back on his bed. This was it. He had been dreading this for months. Maybe Mikey was right; maybe his dad _would _understand…Gus scoffed at his own crazy thought. This was the man who took him on tours of old army bases when he was five years old. He had been talking about enlisting ever since he had been old enough to know what the word meant. Gus was about to crush his dream, and there was no way he was going to be taking it lightly.

He heard the front door of the house open and the familiar sound of his father's heavy boots. He slowly sat up. This was it. It was now or never.

…..

T.J. parked his car outside Vince's house and headed to the front door. He didn't even know where to begin with this conversation. Vince was his best friend; why hadn't he come to him sooner about this? Was he worried about what people would think? True, Vince was the start athlete at school; he probably _would _get a lot of heat for coming out, but he was his best friend!

T.J.'s stomach gave a guilty lurch…his best friend who had always been giving him a hard time about not going out with girls at school. That's why Vince had never told him! He thought he wouldn't have supported him! Well T.J. was just going to have to prove him wrong.

T.J. rang the bell and waited for Vince to answer.

"Oh, hey Teje," Vince said, opening the door, letting his best friend into the house. "I thought you and Spinelli were writing college essays all day today."

"That's not important right now," T.J. said, eager to get what was sure to be a very awkward conversation out of the way. "Your parents home?"

"Um, no," Vince said. "Why? What's up?"

"Look, Vince, we're best friends, right?" T.J. began.

"Of course," Vince nodded.

"And you know that you can tell me anything," T.J. continued. "No matter what it is. I mean it, buddy. I won't judge you in anyway. There's nothing you can tell me that will make me stop being your best friend."

"Um...okay," Vince frowned, confused. "Thanks for that…I guess."

"So is there anything that you _do _want to tell me?" T.J. asked. "Again. No judgment."

"No," Vince said, giving T.J. a strange look. "I think I'm good."

"You sure?"

"Is there something _you _want to tell _me_?" Vince said, crossing his arms. "Because you're acting sort or weird, man."

"Alright Vince," T.J. sighed, sitting down. "I'll just come right out and say it…I know."

"Uh-huh," Vince said. "And do you plan on expanding on that?"

"Come on, let's not make this any more uncomfortable than it already is," T.J. said. "The point is that I don't _care_. You're still my best friend and it doesn't matter to me or to any of the gang. You're still Vince to us!"

"T.J., I'm about this close to calling the mental hospital," Vince said. "So either spit it out or-"

"Vince, I know that you're gay," T.J. finally said.

"What?" Vince exclaimed.

"I don't know why I didn't see it sooner," T.J. said. "It makes perfect sense…and I'm sorry I tried to get you to go out with all those girls at school. But now that you're out of the closet, I promise I won't-"

"Have you completely _lost_ it?" Vince said. "What are you _talking _about? I'm straight, T.J."

"Vince, you don't have to pretend anymore," T.J. said. "And if you're not comfortable coming out at school yet, I won't say anything. But-"

"T.J.," Vince said. "I'm going to say this once, and only once. I. Am. Not. Gay. I promise you that. I am one hundred percent straight."

"You-you are?" T.J. frowned.

"Yes!" Vince said. "Jeez, dude! Where did _that _come from?"

"Well-Well then why are you turning down all these girls?" T.J. blurted out.

"I thought we were dropping that!" Vince frowned.

"Well that's when I thought you were gay!" T.J. retorted. "Seriously, Vince, you can't tell me that you're not interested in _one _girl at school! I mean that's just crazy and-"

"When did I ever say I was interested in _any _girl at school, T.J.?" Vince asked.

"What about that whole Cassidy deal?" T.J. said.

"I said I wasn't interested in _Cassidy_," Vince said. "Or any of those _types _of girls at school."

"Wait, so there _is _a girl you're interested in?" T.J. asked.

"Sort of, yeah," Vince nodded.

"Well ask her out for the love of Whomps!" T.J. exclaimed. "You're Vince LaSalle! She'd say yes in a heartbeat!"

"I don't know about that, Teje," Vince sighed. "She's not really like other girls…"

"First of all, _who _is she?" T.J. asked.

"I-I don't want to say right now…" Vince mumbled.

"What?"

"Look, I'm sort of confused about this whole thing myself," Vince explained. "I'll tell you…once I figure a few things out."

"But-fine," T.J. conceded. "Can you at least give me a hint? Do I _know _this girl?"

"Oh yeah, you know her," Vince smiled.

"Well, then she's a lucky girl," T.J. said. "And good luck, man. And listen, about the whole thinking you were gay thing-"

"We'll never speak of it again," Vince nodded. "But hey, good to know you'd have had my back if I was."

"So…" T.J. said. "Wanna go shoot some hoops at the park?"

"Why not?" Vince said, grabbing a nearby basketball. "Let's get out of here."


	7. Chapter 7

Gretchen was sitting in her room Sunday evening, working on her calculus homework that wasn't due until that Wednesday, when there was a knock on her door. A second later Spinelli entered.

"Hey," Gretchen smiled.

"Hey," Spinelli replied. "Your mom let me in. What're you doing?"

"Homework," Gretchen answered. "And then I was thinking I would start looking into some scholarships."

"Gretch, you need to chill," Spinelli smiled, rolling her eyes. "But, um, I-I actually came over here to talk to you about college…"

"What's up?" Gretchen asked.

"Well, you're like an expert on every college," Spinelli said. "So I was wondering…have you heard anything about NYU?"

"New York University?" Gretchen said. "It's a great school. It always ranks pretty high in terms of academics, and it has an excellent study abroad program."

"What about it's law department?" Spinelli asked.

"One of the best in the country," Gretchen replied. "Why?"

"Well, I-I was sort of thinking of applying there," Spinelli admitted. "I know before I kept saying I wanted to study art, but I've been thinking about it for awhile now, and I'm actually getting really interested in all this legal junk. It's pretty cool."

"I didn't know that," Gretchen grinned. "You should try out for the debate team! We're having try-outs next week."

"Eh, maybe," Spinelli shrugged.

"Wait, so are you saying you want to apply to NYU?" Gretchen asked.

"I downloaded the application from the website last night," Spinelli said softly.

"Well that's great then," Gretchen said. "Make sure you tell T.J. to do that too. They're due in just a couple of months."

"About that…" Spinelli said. "I haven't told him about this yet."

"Really?" Gretchen frowned. "But I thought you guys had this whole big plan to apply to all the same colleges and go where you get into together."

"I know," Spinelli sighed. "But-Okay, this is going to sound horrible, but I-maybe it isn't such a good idea for us to go to the same college."

"Aren't things good between you?" Gretchen asked.

"Yeah! Things are great," Spinelli nodded. "That's the thing. We're so happy together right now…what if we go to college next year and things fall apart between us."

"You really think that would happen?" Gretchen questioned.

"Think about it," Spinelli said. "If me and T.J. go off to the same college, it's gonna be just us. None of you guys around! We'll literally be spending all our time together; 24/7!"

"Oh," Gretchen said understandingly.

"I mean, I love T.J.," Spinelli said. "But come on, I don't want to spend every waking second of my college life with him! I want to have at least a little time to myself. I'd rather us have to deal with a long distance relationship and look forward to seeing each other when we get a chance to then spending so much time together at school that we start to get annoyed with each other."

"But Spin," Gretchen reasoned. "You and T.J. have been together three years here. You see him almost every day, you _live_ down the street from him. You really think it will be that different from how it is now?"

"I told you, here T.J. and I have you guys," Spinelli said. "At school, we hang out with you guys. After school, we hang out with _you guys. _Sure, we have our 'alone time' together and stuff, but we don't have to rely on only each other for, you know, socialization. He hangs out with Vince and the guys some weekends, and we do our things."

"You guys will make your own friends too," Gretchen told her.

"Will we?" Spinelli said. "People don't try and make friends with couples, Gretch. Couples try and make friends with couples. We'll have all couple friends and have to go on double dates and sit around talking about how much we all just love each other! I'm getting sick just thinking about it!"

"Okay, _now _you're overreacting," Gretchen said. "But…I do get not wanting to be forced to go to a certain college just because T.J.'s going. You should go where you want to go."

"Thanks," Spinelli sighed.

"But you _have _to talk to T.J. about it," Gretchen said.

"Ugh, do I really?" Spinelli moaned.

"Well I think he'll probably figure something's up if he's sitting in a dorm at University of Arkansas and you're thousands of miles away in New York," Gretchen pointed out.

"But he'll be so sad," Spinelli muttered.

"He'll understand," Gretchen said. "He loves you and wants you go be happy."

…..

Gus nervously climbed downstairs. His father was hanging up his jacket by the front door.

"Hi dad," Gus said, his heart pounding out of his chest.

"Evening, son," his dad replied. "Alice?" he called out to Gus's mother. "Is dinner ready? I'm starved."

"It's on the table," his mom replied, poking her head out of the kitchen. "I'll be in there in just a second."

"What a day," Gus's father sighed, taking his seat at the head of the table. Then he chuckled. "Of course, soon you'll be seeing for yourself just how demanding the life of an army man can be."

"Um, right," Gus said as he watched his dad piled mashed potatoes onto his plate. "About that, dad. I sort of wanted to talk to you about that."

"I know what this is about," Gus's dad nodded, pouring gravy onto his plate.

"You-You do?" Gus frowned.

"Of course, went through the same thing when I was your age," he said as his wife joined them at the table. "You can't decide if you want to go to boot camp on the east coast or the west coast."

"Oh," Gus said, his hopes falling. "That's-That's not exactly-"

"Personally, I'd vote for the west coast," his dad continued. "Much better commanders. However you need to make the decision on your own. It's your life after all."

"Um, hold onto that thought," Gus said slowly. He glanced over at his mom, who was looking down at her plate. Gus suspected that she knew about his hesitance to go into the army and she, like him, knew there would be a blowout.

"How would you feel," Gus started, feeling as if he were just about to poke a sleeping bull in the eye. "If I, you know, didn't go into the army?"

Gus's dad frowned. "Why wouldn't you want to go into the army?"

"Well because I just sort of-"

"Do you want to go into the Navy instead?" he demanded. "The Air Force? Oh, Gus, the Griswalds have always been _army _men!"

"Dad, I don't want to go into the Navy or Air Force!" Gus said quickly.

"Well then for Pete's sake, Gus, don't scare an old man like that," his dad said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I-I don't want to go into the army either," Gus added quietly.

His father looked up from cutting his chicken. "Excuse me?"

"I don't want to go into the army, dad," he said again.

His father looked as though someone had just slapped him across the face.

"I want to go to college, dad," Gus continued. "I want to study architecture. I already sent in applications for University of Arkansas, Penn State-"

"And where's the pride in that?" his dad said harshly, slamming his fork down. "Huh?"

"Chet, please," his mom said softly. "Let's all just calm down and-"

"Do you think when I took you to tour all those army camps when you were a kid, that I was doing it for _fun_?" Chet exploded, ignoring his wife. "I've built your life for the army ever since you were a boy!"

"Well I never asked you to do that!" Gus said hotly, getting to his feet. "Did you ever _ask _me if I wanted to go into the army, dad? Did you? No! You didn't! You just assumed I would follow in your footsteps! But I want to have my own life, dad! I want to go to college and become and architect, and I'm going to do it! With or without your support!"

Gus's father stared at him for a moment, before, pushing his chair back and getting it up. "Then you'll be doing it without it," he said coldly, and headed out of the room.

"Chet! Wait! Don't do this!" his mother pleaded, but a second later, her and Gus heard the front door slam closed, and his car engine roared to life.


End file.
